From "Hauzer for You", October 2011, by Dave Deerwald and Ruud Jacobs: "The motivation for the research has its roots in the EU regulations for CO2 emission and increasing oil prices. From 2012 on, due to EU regulations, car manufacturers have to pay an excess premium to compensate for every g/km deviation from the norm of 130 g/km. From 2012-2018 there is a gradient scale of calculation, but the amount of money involved can be really significant. Furthermore, in the last ten years the prices for gasoline and diesel increased more than forty percent. Energy losses occur in many parts of the vehicle.

 

In the Pegasus project concentration is on the rear axle, or more specifically on the hypoid pinion and the hypoid gear.

 

 

Source:

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Hauzer Techno Coating: http://www.hauzertechnocoating.com/index/EN/DLC%20&%20Low%20Viscosity%20Oil/102/0/ 

Image: Hauzer Techno Coating

From Industrial Laser Solutions for Manufacturing, November 10, 2011, by Ralf Hellmann and Colin Moorhouse:  "The availability of an expanded range of laser pulsewidths and wavelengths enables patterning of transparent conductive oxides to be optimized for applications as disparate as solar cells and OLED displays.

 

Thin films of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are used as electrodes in applications where light must pass through the electrode, such as on the front side of certain solar cell types as well as in flat panel displays. Often, these conductive films must be scribed through to create a pattern of electrically isolated areas. Until now, the Q-switched nanosecond laser has dominated these applications, but the advent of newer displays, particularly those based on OLED technology, is creating a demand for even higher quality scribes. The authors have investigated the use of a picosecond laser for this purpose. This article presents the results of this testing which shows that picosecond lasers can deliver results which are superior to typical scribes created by ultraviolet nanosecond lasers."   

Read the full article...

Industrial Laser Solutions/PennWell Corporation:  http://www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/2011/11/laser-patterning-of-transparent-electrode-films-from-solar-panels-through-high-end-displays.html

Image: Ralf Hellmann and Colin Moorhouse

 

From NASA Tech Briefs, October 1, 2011, Eric W. Kurman, Deposition Sciences Inc.: "Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their applications are experiencing rapid growth, especially in the area of remote sensing. Advances in propulsion; airframe materials; communications, command and control (C3) systems; cameras and detectors; and image processing are combining to continuously improve UAS capabilities. Most optical systems used in unmanned aircraft systems function over the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) wavelength ranges. Increasing in importance is multispectral or hyperspectral imaging which can combine information from VIS, NIR, mid-wave infrared (MWIR), and long-wave infrared (LWIR) wavelength regions to provide enhanced detection, such as chemical, vehicular, or terrain identification capabilities not available by the use of imaging alone. This article will cover some of the basics of optical thin film coatings as applied to electro-optical systems commonly used in unmanned systems."

 

From Nanotechnology, September 12, 2011, by Hengzhi Wang, et al.: "During the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), plasma etching is the crucial factor that determines the growth mode and alignment of the CNTs. Focusing on a thin catalyst coating (5 nm Ni ), this study finds that the CNT growth by PECVD goes through three stages from randomly entangled (I-CNTs) to partially aligned (II-CNTs) to fully aligned (III-CNTs). The I-CNTs and II-CNTs are mostly etched away by the plasma as time goes by ending up with III-CNTs as the only product when growth time is long enough. However, with a thickness of the catalyst coating of 10 nm or more, neither I-CNTs nor II-CNTs are produced, but III-CNTs are the only type of CNTs grown during the whole growth process. During the growth of III-CNTs, the catalyst particles (Ni) stay on the tips of each of the aligned CNTs and act as a 'safety helmet' to protect the CNTs from plasma ion bombardment. On the other hand, it is also the plasma that limits the growth of III-CNTs, since the plasma eventually etches all the catalytic particles out and stops the growth."  

 

Source:  

 

From www.azonano.com, November 1, 2011, by Cameron Chai: "University of Cincinnati's (UC) Micro and Nano Manufacturing Laboratory Director, Murali Sundaram is exploring the possibility of creating a cost -effective nano manufacturing facility where various small scale processes for machine substances can be carried out without requiring a highly clean laboratory environment.

  

Nano scale and micro scale manufacturing can be effectively used in applications such as coatings, measurement, micro electronics, biomedical, paintings and automotive industries.

The scientists' goal is to not only use processes at these scales but also to use them on a wide range of materials. Traditionally silicon's properties have been widely known as it is used in a majority of micro- electronic devices. However, some devices require other materials than silicon. The professor is currently investigating various alternative processes for different materials." 

 

Source:

Read the full article...

www.azonano.com: 

 http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=23684  

 

From Nanowerk News, October 31, 2011,:  "The atom-by-atom growth of a crystalline film on a crystalline substrate, a process known as epitaxy, is employed in a wide range of applications to produce high-performance electronic interfaces and functionalities. Achieving the highest-quality interfaces generally involves matching the atomic lattice structures of the film and substrate. However, depending on the pairing of materials, achieving such lattice matching can be difficult, and the mechanisms governing growth in lattice-mismatched systems can be complex. Shu-Jung Tang and colleagues from National Tsing Hua University, the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center and other institutions in Taiwan have now shown that the atomic structure of an epitaxial thin film is determined not only by atomic structural constraints, but also by electronic effects ("Electronic versus Lattice Match for Metal-Semiconductor Epitaxial Growth: Pb on Ge(111)"  

 

Source:  

Read the entire article...

www.nanowerk.com: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=23222.php

Image: Tokyo Institute of Technology 

 

From The Engineer, November 8, 2011, : "Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Nanoscale Materials have successfully carved ultra-nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD) thin films into nanowires.

 

The development is likely to increase the material's functionality and provide potential improvements to the fabrication of biosensors.

  

UNCD thin films are a special form of diamond invented at ANL and are a subject of interest because of the material's ability to alter its electrical properties when the chemical bonding between grain boundaries is modified.

 

'It's a highly attractive carbon-based material with a range of applications in communications, medicine and defence,' said team leader Anirudha Sumant, a materials scientist at ANL.

A primary motive behind the team's studies, he said in a statement, is to understand the electrical transport properties of UNCD when it's fabricated into a nanowire geometry. Similarly, they wanted to see how these properties can be altered by changing chemical bonding at the grain boundary and by taking advantage of increased surface-to-volume ratio simultaneously."

Source: Click the link to read the full article.  

The Engineer: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/electronics/news/uncd-thin-films-could-improve-the-fabrication-of-biosensors/1010823.article

 
From American Physical Society, November 7, 2011, by Chih-Kang Shih and Gregory A. Fiete, University of Texas at Austin: "For a material to transition into a superconducting state, two things have to happen: the electrons must form Cooper pairs (the carriers of superconducting current) and the pairs have to condense into a single phase. In low-dimensional materials, quantum fluctuations may disrupt the superconducting phase even when the Cooper pairs are able to form, leading to the question: How thin can a material be and still superconduct? Advances in synthesizing high-quality, ultrathin metal films have provided unprecedented opportunities to address this question. Experimental evidence suggests that superconductivity persists with a similar transition temperature, Tc, even in films that are only 1-2 atomic layers thick; however, these experiments have been based primarily on scanning tunneling spectroscopy, which detects the Cooper pairs, but not the existence of a macroscopic supercurrent. Whether an atomically thin film would also support supercurrents has therefore remained an open question. Now, in a paper appearing in Physical Review Letters, Takashi Uchihashi and co-workers at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, provide a definite answer to this question by showing that robust supercurrents flow over macroscopic distances in an atomically thin metal film of indium. Their work is likely to push theorists and experimentalists to revisit the current understanding of low-dimensional superconductivity. "  

Source:  

Read the full article and paper, available free from American Physical Society.  

Image: APS/Alan Stonebraker 

 

From Nanowerk News, November 9, 2011: " Polymers are the material of choice for making thin-film transistors and solar cells. They are also potentially suitable for manufacture using economical, high-throughput techniques, such as roll-to-roll and inkjet printing processes. However, transistors and solar cells have traditionally used different kinds of polymers, and this can severely complicate the fabrication process. Zhi-Kuan Chen at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and co-workers have now developed a versatile polymer that is suitable for both kinds of devices ("A Versatile Low Bandgap Polymer for Air-Stable, High-Mobility Field-Effect Transistors and Efficient Polymer Solar Cells").

 

Polymers with high-charge mobilities are ideal to use in the manufacture of transistors. However, these materials are susceptible to having large energy bandgaps, which prevent them from absorbing portions of the solar spectrum. Such materials could severely hamper the energy conversion efficiency if made into solar cells." 

     

Source:  

Read the full article...

Nanowerk News: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=23336.php 

 

From Yahoo News, November 18, 2011, by Charles Choi: "A metallic lattice of hair-thin pipes is now the lightest solid yet created - less dense than air, scientists revealed. The strategy used to create these intricate structures could lead to revolutionary materials of extraordinary strength and lightness, including ones made of diamond, researchers added.

Ultra-lightweight materials such as foams are widely used in thermal insulation and to dampen sounds, vibrations and shocks. They can also serve as scaffolds for battery electrodes and catalytic systems.

 

The very lightest substances in the world until now, aerogels, have the ethereal nickname "frozen smoke." They can reach densities of 1 milligram per cubic centimeter, making them less dense than air at room temperature and sea level.

The problem until now with low-density materials such as aerogels and metallic foams has been their random structures. For instance, aerogels are derived from gels whose liquid components were replaced with gas, leaving behind solid tangles of microscopic-bead necklaces. The chaotic architecture of these substances makes them much weaker than conventional forms of their parent material."

 

Source:  

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Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/worlds-lightest-solid-takes-inspiration-eiffel-tower-134809070.html

 

From SPIE, October 25, 2011, by Kristine Bertness, et al.: 
"Gallium nitride (GaN) is a semiconductor material widely used for lighting and power transistor applications because of its abilities to emit UV and visible light and to tolerate high temperatures and voltages.   [The] conventionally grown GaN films suffer from high defect densities arising from the merging of the crystal structure of the film with that of the wafer. The defects lead to weaker light emission, electrical signal noise, and early device failure. 

A number of crystal-growth 'tricks' reduce defect densities in ordinary GaN films or allow devices to be less sensitive to imperfections.  Complete elimination of defects requires a more radical approach. Nanowire growth using a specific deposition method, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), can achieve near-perfect crystal structure while retaining the semiconductor properties needed to make useful devices, as reviewed elsewhere."       

 

Source:  

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SPIE.org: http://spie.org/x57461.xml?highlight=x2400&ArticleID=x57461

 

From ElectroIQ, November 7, 2011, Brent Walker, et al.:  "Electron-molecule collisions drive technological plasmas. Electron energies and concentrations determine the gas phase chemistry, and therefore surface effects, in all plasma etch and deposition processes. Almost all micro-electronic devices now require dry and plasma processes to achieve the necessary surface detail, yet these plasma processes are still poorly understood.

TEL (Tokyo Electron Ltd.) and Quantemol Ltd. are collaborating on using the fully quantum mechanical R-matrix methods [1] to study the electron-molecule collision processes occurring in their plasma tools. The data provided by the R-matrix codes are used in reactor-scale models to simulate plasma behavior, allowing predictions of etch or deposition rates to be made.

The authors discuss the etching of silicon dioxide by fluorocarbons, and Ar/HBr etching in a microwave plasma source."  

Source:  

Click to read the full article

ElectroIQ.com: http://www.electroiq.com/articles/sst/2011/11/predicting-plasma-in-wafer-etch-and-deposition-via-quantum-mechanics.html

 

From Hearst Electronic Products, October 26, 2011, by Binay Bajaj.:  "Smartphones and tablet computers are omnipresent in today's society used by both businesses and consumers. ...First introduced on smaller devices several years ago, touchscreen-based devices are rapidly moving to larger formats as well. 

However, moving from small screens and simple touch-enabled applications to a new paradigm where hands and fingers are the primary tools for interacting with computers is not going to be straightforward. Manufacturers must rethink the way touchscreens will be used and address new and more demanding requirements. Most important, the move to larger screen sizes has made a multiple touch capability essential. While a few finger strokes on today's 5-in. screens are sufficient, the minimum requirement for 12- and 40-in. devices is at least ten."

The article reviews capacitive and resistive touchscreen technologies and multitouch design factors.

Source:  

Read the full article...

Hearst Electronic Products:  http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Touchscreens_large_and_small-article-FAJH_Atmel_Nov2011-html.aspx

 

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9

Practical Aspects of Plasma Modification of Polymer Materials and Plasma Web Treatment 

Instructor: Jeremy M. Grace

December 9, 2011  11 am - 2 pm EST

Course Description and Pricing

Registration is Open 

Sputter Deposition
Instructor: David Glocker
Originally Presented Sept. 14. 2011